12 Food Swaps For Lower Calories
Swap That for This !
Swap that -> for THIS!
Everything comes at a cost, so does food! Apart from a price tag, food comes at a calorie tag. Just like Euro/USD/GBP, the monetary unit is in Calories. A Calorie is a unit of energy that a food or drink provides.
Losing weight is a simple logical mathematical system;
Calorie surplus = weight gain Calorie deficit = weight loss
Simply swapping foods that are costing you too many calories, with something at a lower caloric cost, will automatically minimise your daily calorie intake. The overall aim is to avoid being in a surplus on a daily basis, preventing weight gain.
Apart from calories, sugar similarly merits a watchful eye, primarily because high sugar consumption leads to an increase in the process called lipogenesis - this is the pathway by which excess sugar in our bodies is turned into and stored as fat (adipose tissue/ liver fat). So even in the event of containing equal amounts of calories, if one has less sugar than the other, opt for the food item containing the least amount. Excess sugar will be stored as fat and provide only empty calories that won’t keep your satiety happy for long. WHO recommends keeping your daily sugar consumption to 25gr or less.
Here are my 12 recommendations for healthier food swaps;
1. Crisps -> Homemade Popcorn
| Crisps | Homemade popped popcorn |
|---|---|
| 487 kcal/100gr | 376 kcal/100gr |
2. Softdrinks -> Infused Water
| Softdrinks | Infused Water |
|---|---|
| 48 kcal/100ml | 0 kcal/100ml |
| 12gr sugar/100ml | 0gr sugar/100ml |
3. Crackers -> Carrot Sticks
| Crackers | Carrot Sticks |
|---|---|
| 497 kcal/100gr | 34 kcal/100gr |
4. Icecream -> Frozen Yoghurt
| Icecream | Frozen Yoghurt |
|---|---|
| 267 kcal/100ml | 126 kcal/100ml |
| 22gr sugar/100ml | 2.5gr sugar/100ml |
5. Breakfast Cereal -> Oats
| Breakfast Cereal | Oats |
|---|---|
| 376 kcal/100gr | 374 kcal/100gr |
| 25gr sugar/100gr | 0.3gr sugar/100gr |
6. Cocktails -> Wine
| Cocktail on Avg. | Wine Red/White |
|---|---|
| 250 kcal/100ml | 75 kcal/100ml |
| 22gr sugar/100ml | 0.5gr sugar/100ml |
7. Beef Mince -> Turkey Mince
| Beef mince | Turkey mince |
|---|---|
| 225 kcal/100gr | 130 kcal/100gr |
8. Mayo/Store-bought Dips -> Hummus
| Mayo/ Store-bought Dips on Avg. | Hummus |
|---|---|
| 687 kcal/100gr | 198 kcal/100gr |
9. Butter -> Applesauce
Swap butter in your cake batter with applesauce. As a bonus, applesauce not only comes with fewer calories but also natural sweetnees allowing you to reduce the amount of sugar that needs to be added to your batter.
| Butter | Applesauce |
|---|---|
| 745kcal/100gr | 81/kcal/100gr |
10. Doughnut -> Protein Bar
| Doughnut | Protein bar |
|---|---|
| 322 kcal/100gr | 328 kcal/100gr |
| 20gr sugar/100gr | 3.4gr sugar/100gr |
My favourite protein bar is from the Grenade range. It does not only hold the best macro ratio with a whooping 20gr of protein per bar but also tastes great just like a regular chocolate-caramel bar!
Check out this link to get yours Amazon UK/Amazon DE/Amazon IT
11. Juices -> Fresh Fruit
| Store-bought fruit juice | Freshly squeezed fruit juice |
|---|---|
| 47 kcal/100ml | 34 kcal/100ml |
| 9.2gr sugar/100ml | 7.9gr sugar/100ml |
12. Chocolate Candy Bar -> 85% Dark Chocolate
| Regular chocolate candy bar | 85% dark chocolate |
|---|---|
| 505 kcal/100gr | 610 kcal/100gr |
| 44gr sugar/100gr | 14gr sugar/100gr |
Although the swap points towards a higher calorie option, bear in mind that you are more likely to consume a whole chocolate candy bar (approx. 60gr) as opposed to dark chocolate, where one is more likely to have a small square, thus still cosuming far fewer calories. Also notice the huge difference in sugar content, with the chocolate candy bar having 3 times as much sugar when compared to the same amount of dark chocolate.
Go ahead, try these swaps and let me know how it went through my contact page! Would love to hear your feedback!
